Mager & Goldstein LLP Announces That a Securities Class Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against Health Management Associates, Inc.


WESTON, Fla., Aug. 27, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Mager & Goldstein LLP announces that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on behalf of purchasers of Health Management Associates, Inc. ("Health Management" or the "Company") (NYSE:HMA) publicly traded securities during the period January 17, 2007 through July 30, 2007 (the "Class Period").

The complaint alleges that defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations during the Class Period thereby artificially inflating the price of Health Management securities. The Complaint alleges that Defendants engaged in a scheme to manipulate Health Management's policies in order to create the impression that the Company had its "bad debt expenses" under control in order to borrow additional money, and to get the Board to approve of their recapitalization plan. On January 17, 2007, Health Management announced a major recapitalization which was completed in March 2007 and which required the Company to borrow $3.25 billion of new debt to refinance existing debt and pay shareholders a special one-time cash dividend of $10.00. The individual Defendants benefited substantially from this one-time dividend, given that they were major shareholders and each Defendant received large sums of money. On July 31, 2007, Health Management announced that for its second quarter of 2007 it took a $39 million charge, and recorded it as an additional reserve to reflect a decline in collectibility of accounts receivable from uninsured patients. The Company updated its fiscal 2007 diluted EPS from continuing operations objective range to be between $.45 and $.50 to reflect increased uninsured volumes, a deterioration in the collectibility of accounts receivables related to those uninsured volumes, and lower than anticipated overall paying volumes. On this news, Health Management stock dropped almost 25% to close at $8.06 on July 31, 2007. As of the date of this Notice, Mager & Goldstein LLP has not filed a Complaint against Health Management Associates Inc.

If you purchased Health Management Associates common stock during the Class Period, you may be a member of the proposed class. You must move the Court on or before October 1, 2007 if you wish to serve as lead plaintiff. Lead plaintiffs must meet certain legal requirements. Class members may retain counsel of their choice and move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff, or may choose to do nothing and remain absent class members.

Mager & Goldstein has offices in Pennsylvania and Florida. The firm's attorneys have been litigating complex commercial matters for over twenty years. If you wish to discuss the lawsuit against Health Management Associates, Inc. with us, please contact the following attorney:


 Jayne Arnold Goldstein
 Mager Goldstein LLP
 1640 Town Center Circle, Suite 216
 Weston, Florida 33326
 866-849-7545 Toll Free
 E-mail: jgoldstein@magergoldstein.com

            

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